Russia's Reflexive Control Theory and the Military

An exploration of defensive deception in industrial communication networks

“…Reflexive control is a warfare theory that has been studied in the former Soviet Union and later on in Russia for a very long time. Reflexive control theory is comprised of methods for conveying especially prepared information to a subject in order to incline that subject to voluntarily make a predetermined decision [19]. Mirage theory seeks to exploit the attacker's mind, namely the attacker's perception of an electrical power infrastructure.…”

The KGB’s Operation SIG: A 50-Year Campaign to Incite Hatred of Israel and Jews [Research in Progress]

“…One of the principle goals of reflexive control is to interfere with the decision-making process of those whom you wish to control: "specially prepared information to incline him to voluntarily make the predetermined decision desired by the initiator of the action" and "to 'control' the 'reflex' of the opponent by creating a certain model of behavior in the system it seeks to control. The most fundamental way to do this is to locate the weak link in the system and exploit it through moral arguments, psychological tactics, or appeals to specific leaders' character" (Thomas, 2004). Thomas (2004) Contrast this with the declaration by the ruler of the Palestinian Arabs, Mahmoud Abbas, who wrote that the Palestinian Authority "will never allow a single Israeli (Jew) to live among us" (Wallace, 2012, p. 40).…”

“…The most fundamental way to do this is to locate the weak link in the system and exploit it through moral arguments, psychological tactics, or appeals to specific leaders' character" (Thomas, 2004). Thomas (2004) Contrast this with the declaration by the ruler of the Palestinian Arabs, Mahmoud Abbas, who wrote that the Palestinian Authority "will never allow a single Israeli (Jew) to live among us" (Wallace, 2012, p. 40). The same is true of Arab Palestinian State of Jordan.…”

Information-psychological warfare in Russian security strategy

“…The research on information-psychological warfare has been one of the major themes of Russian military science since at least the 1960s and the development of the reflexive control theory (Thomas, 2004). One can go even further in the history, to Chinese strategist Sun-Tzu, or to the publication of Lenin's essay On Guerrilla Warfare in 1906, where he anticipated practices and strategies to be used in the political struggle for power.…”